RFID stands for Radio-Frequency IDentification. An RFID transponder, or ‘tag’, serves a similar purpose as a bar code or a magnetic strip on the back of a credit card; it provides an identifier for a particular object, although, unlike a barcode or magnetic strip, some tags support being written to. An RFID system carries data in transponders in these tags, and retrieves data from the tags wirelessly. Data within a tag may provide identification for an item in manufacture, goods in transit, a location, the identity of a vehicle, an animal, or an individual. By including additional data, the ability is provided for supporting applications through item-specific information or instructions available on reading the tag.
A basic RFID system includes a transceiver (a reader or ‘interrogator’) and a transponder (RF tag) electronically programmed with unique identifying information. Both the transceiver and transponder have antennas, which respectively emit and receive radio signals to activate the tag and read and write data to it. An antenna is a feature that is present in both readers and tags, essential for the communication between the two. An RFID system requires, in addition to tags, a means of reading or interrogating the tags and usually requires some means of communicating RFID data to a host device, e.g., a computer or information management system. Often the antenna is packaged with the transceiver and decoder to become a reader (an ‘interrogator’), which can be configured either as a handheld or a fixed-mount device. The reader emits radio waves in ranges of anywhere from one inch to 100 feet or more, depending upon its power output and the radio frequency used. When an RFID tag passes through the electromagnetic zone (its ‘field’) created by the reader, it detects the reader's activation signal. The reader decodes the data encoded in the tag's integrated circuit and the data is often passed to a device (e.g., a computer) for processing.
Two methods distinguish and categorize RFID systems, one based upon close proximity electromagnetic or inductive coupling, and one based upon propagating electromagnetic waves. Coupling is via ‘antenna’ structures forming an integral feature in both tags and readers. While the term antenna is generally considered more appropriate for propagating systems it is also loosely applied to inductive systems.
Transponders/Tags
The word transponder, derived from TRANSmitter/resPONDER, reveals the function of a tag. A tag responds to a transmitted or communicated request for the data it carries, the communication between the reader and the tag being wireless across the space between the two. The essential components that form an RFID system are one or more tags and a reader or interrogator. The basic components of a transponder are, generally speaking, fabricated as low power integrated circuit suitable for interfacing to an external coil, or utilizing ‘coil-on-chip’ technology, for data transfer and power generation, where the coil acts as an antenna matched to the frequency supported.
Basic Features of an RFID Transponder
The transponder includes memory which may comprise read-only (ROM), random access (RAM) or non-volatile programmable memory for data storage, depending upon the type of the device. ROM-based memory is used to accommodate security data and the transponder operating system instructions which, in conjunction with the processor or processing logic, deals with the internal ‘house-keeping’ functions such as response delay timing, data flow control and power supply switching. RAM-based memory is used to facilitate temporary data storage during transponder interrogation and response.
Non-volatile programmable memory may take various forms, electrically erasable programmable read only memory (EEPROM) being typical. This type of memory is used to store the transponder data and needs to be non-volatile to ensure that the tag data is retained when the device is in its quiescent or power-saving ‘sleep’ state or when the tag is not powered on.
Data buffers are further components of memory, used to temporarily hold incoming data following demodulation and outgoing data for modulation and interface with the transponder antenna. Interface circuitry provides the facility to direct and accommodate the interrogation field energy for powering purposes in passive transponders and triggering of the transponder response. The transponder antenna is the mechanism by which the device senses the interrogating field and also serves to transmit the transponder response to interrogation.
RFID tags come in a wide variety of shapes and sizes. Animal tracking tags, inserted beneath the skin, can be as small as a pencil lead in diameter and 10 millimeters in length. Tags can be manufactured in many different shapes, including credit-card form factors for use in access applications. The anti-theft hard plastic tags attached to merchandise in stores are RFID tags. In addition, heavy-duty transponders are used to track intermodal containers, heavy machinery, trucks, and railroad cars for maintenance and other applications.
Powering Tags
Tags require power to work, even though the power levels required for operation are invariably very small (microwatts to milliwatts). RFID tags are categorized as active, passive, or semi-active/semi-passive, the designation being determined by the manner in which the device derives its power.
Active RFID tags are powered by an internal battery and are typically read/write devices, i.e., tag data can be rewritten and/or modified. An active tag's memory size varies according to application requirements; some systems operate with up to 1 MB of memory. In a typical read/write RFID work-in-process system, a tag might give a machine a set of instructions, and the machine would then report its performance to the tag. This encoded data then becomes part of the tagged part's history. The battery-supplied power of an active tag generally gives it a longer read range. The trade-off is greater size, greater cost, and a limited operational life (which may yield a lifetime of 10 years, depending upon operating temperatures and battery type).
In general terms, active transponders allow greater communication range than can be expected for passive devices, better noise immunity and higher data transmissions rates when used to power a higher frequency response mode.
Passive tags operate without an internal battery source, deriving the power to operate from the field generated by the reader. Passive tags are consequently much lighter than active tags, less expensive, and offer a virtually unlimited operational lifetime. The trade-off is that they have shorter read ranges than active tags and require a higher-powered reader. Passive tags are also constrained in their capacity to store data (which is directly related to tag size and not power) and the ability to perform well in electromagnetically noisy environments. However, a passive tag must be powered without interruption, and storing a lot of data on a tag is subject to difficulty in reliably reading that data from the tag. Sensitivity and orientation performance may also be constrained by the limitation on available power. Despite these limitations passive transponders offer advantages in terms of cost and longevity. They have an almost infinite lifetime and are generally less expensive than active transponders.
Read-only tags are typically passive and are programmed with a unique set of data (usually 32 to 128 bits) that cannot be modified. Read-only tags most often operate as a license plate into a database, in the same way as linear barcodes reference a database containing modifiable product-specific information. Semi-active/semi-passive tags use a battery to assist the interrogator.
Data Carrying Options
Data stored in data carriers invariable require some organization and additions, such as data identifiers and error detection bits, to satisfy recovery needs. This process is often referred to as source encoding. Standard numbering systems, such as UCC/EPC and associated data defining elements may also be applied to data stored in tags. The amount of data is application-dependent. Basically, tags may be used to carry drug pedigrees, manifests, product identification information, etc., as well as:                identifiers, in which a numeric or alphanumeric string is stored for identification purposes or as an access key to data stored elsewhere in a computer or information management system, and/or        portable data files, in which information can be organized, for communication or as a means of initiating actions without recourse to, or in combination with, data stored elsewhere.        
In terms of data capacity, tags can be obtained that satisfy needs from single bit to kilobits. The single bit devices are essentially for surveillance purposes. Retail electronic article surveillance (EAS) is the typical application for such devices, being used to activate an alarm when detected in the interrogating field. They may also be used in counting applications.
Tag devices characterized by data storage capacities up to 128 bits are sufficient to hold a serial or identification number together, possibly, with parity check bits. Such devices may be manufacturer or user programmable. Tags with data storage capacities up to 512 bits are invariably user programmable, and suitable for accommodating identification and other specific data such as serial numbers, package content, key process instructions or possibly results of earlier interrogation/response transactions.
Tags characterized by data storage capacities of around 64 kilobits may be regarded as carriers for portable data files. With increased capacity the facility can also be provided for organizing data into fields or pages that may be selectively interrogated during the reading process.
Data programming options
Depending upon the type of memory a tag contains the data carried may be read-only, write once read many (WORM) or read/write. Read-only tags are invariably low capacity devices programmed at source, usually with an identification number. WORM devices are user programmable devices. Read/write devices are also user-programmable but allow the user to change data stored in a tag. Portable programmers (interrogators) may be recognized that also allow in-field programming of the tag while attached to the item being identified or accompanied.
The Reader/Interrogator
Reader/interrogators can differ quite considerably in complexity, depending upon the type of tags being supported and the functions to be fulfilled. However, their overall function is to provide a mechanism for communicating with the tags, providing power to passive tags, and facilitating data transfer. Functions performed by the reader may include signal conditioning, parity error checking and correction. Once the signal from a transponder has been correctly received and decoded, algorithms may be applied to decide whether the signal is a repeat transmission, and may then instruct the transponder to cease transmitting. This is known as a ‘Command Response Protocol’ and is used to circumvent the problem of reading multiple tags in a short space of time. Using interrogators in this way is sometimes referred to as ‘Hands Down Polling’. An alternative, more secure, but slower tag polling technique is called ‘Hands Up Polling’, which involves the interrogator looking for tags with specific identities, and interrogating them in turn. This technique requires contention management, and a variety of techniques have been developed to improve the process of batch reading, including anti-collision techniques.
Current RFID systems require that a tag be in the field of the reader (interrogator), and powered on, in order for the user to interact with it. This is the case even when, for example, a series of users are simply reading the same, unchanging value off the tag, such as the tag ID. Furthermore, current tags are limited to the capabilities inherent in the tag. In multiple tag type environments, an RFID system is typically forced to use the common subset of tag capabilities, and have limited ability to support new, enhanced tags. In addition, current tags must receive commands as they are issued (and thus must be in-field for the command to work). If several commands do essentially the same thing (such as writing a value) but only the last one matters (e.g., a count or a total value), the tag must still be powered up and written to for each of the commands.